The El Dorado Au-Cu deposit is located in an extensive intra-caldera zone of hydrothermal alteration affecting Upper Cretaceous andesites of the Los Elquinos Formation at La Serena (
29470 S Lat., 70430 W Long., Chile). Quartz-sulfide veins of economic potential are hosted by N25W and N20E fault structures associated with quartz-illite alteration (þsupergene kaolinite).

Fruta del Norte is a completely concealed and extraordinarily well preserved epithermal gold-silver deposit located in the remote Cordillera del Cóndor mountain ranges of southeastern Ecuador. Currently defined resources in a single, steep, relatively small body, displaying exceptional grade continuity, contain 9.81 million ounces (Moz) of gold and 15.0 Moz of silver, with an indicated resource grade of 9.59 g/t Au and 12.9 g/t Ag. The deposit was discovered in early 2006 during a greenfields program conducted by Aurelian Resources, a Canadian junior explorer. Discovery resulted from systematic drill testing of a conceptual geologic model, which predicted that auriferous veins would be present in andesitic volcanic rocks inferred to underlie a steep silicified rib cutting a fluvial conglomerate sequence.

Тектонический контроль, реконструкция и консервация тигелонгнанского месторождения порфиров и эпитермальных отложений меди (Au), Центральный Тибет, Китай

The newly discovered Tiegelongnan Cu (Au) deposit is a giant porphyry deposit overprinted by a high-sulfidation epithermal deposit in the western part of the Bangong–Nujiang metallogenic belt, Duolong district, central Tibet. It is mainly controlled by the tectonic movement of the Bangong–Nujiang Oceanic Plate (post-subduction extension). After the closure of the Bangong–Nujiang Ocean, porphyry intrusions emplaced at around 121 Ma in the Tiegelongnan area, which might be the result of continental crust thickening and the collision of Qiangtang and Lhasa terranes, based on the crustal radiogenic isotopic signature.

The successful exploration geologist uses knowledge of geologic relationships and ore-deposit styles, tempered by experience, to interpret all information available from a given prospect in order to develop an understanding of its mineral potential. In the case of exploration for epithermal gold deposits, this understanding can be augmented by familiarity with active hydrothermal systems, their present-day analogues.

This report constitutes a new descriptive model for epithermal gold-silver deposits. It summarizes characteristics of known deposits, including their geological, geophysical, geochemical, and geoenvironmental aspects. Models concerning the genesis of epithermal gold-silver deposits are discussed. How descriptive and genetic aspects of the model can be applied to mineral exploration and resource assessment of undiscovered deposits is described.

Intermediate sulfidation (IS) veins is one of the subtypes of epithermal deposits formed in subduction-related arc settings or post-collisional orogenic belts. The economic and scientific significance of IS deposits has been highlighting importance in Ag-Au-Pb-Zn exploration and study of porphyry-epithermal systems.

The Sari Gunay epithermal gold deposit is located within a mildly alkaline latitic to trachytic volcanic complex in central-northwest Iran. Intrusive and volcanic rocks that host the deposit have been dated at between 11.7 and 11.0 Ma (with one younger sample at 8.0 Ma; 40Ar/39Ar dating of igneous biotite and hornblende), whereas sericitic alteration associated with an early stage of hydrothermal activity occurred between ~10.8 and ~10.3 Ma (the best age estimate is 10.7 Ma obtained by 40Ar/39Ar dating of sericite).

Epithermal gold (± Cu & Ag) deposits form at shallower crustal levels than porphyry Cu-Au systems, and are primarily distinguished as low and high sulphidation using criteria of varying gangue and ore mineralogy, deposited by the interaction of different ore fluids with host rocks and groundwaters. Low sulphidation deposits are in turn further divided according to mineralogy related to the depth and environment of formation, while high sulphidation systems vary with depth and permeability control, and are distinguished from several styles of barren acid alteration.